The Name: The Breath You Breathe (Exodus 20:7; 3:14)

LORD

(El); (Eloah); and (Elohim) are the very personal, covenant name(s), of what is translated into the English, as "God'. The ''Tetra Grammaton", (YHWH), though most common in usage, in the OT scriptures, is the general name for "God", translated over 90% of the time, by the English word, "LORD", all in upper case. The use of the upper case is to distinguish it from (adonai), also translated as "Lord".

THE NAME

Somewhere between the exile to Babylon, and the 1st century B.C., the misinterpretation of Exodus 20:7:

"...you shall not utter the name..." (Jerusalem Bible)

"...you shall not use or repeat the name..." (Amplified Bible) ],

... came into effect, and the use of vowels, to give definition to "the name", were deliberately dropped, so that no one would pronounce or accidently read "the name", and as with today, when "the name" is written in scripture, (Adonai) was, and is, pronounced, by orthodox Jews, or (Hashem), meaning, "the name".

Since the actual spelling of "the name" was lost, numerous speculations and attempts have been made, to replace the missing vowels, and to once again, recover the correct utterance of "the name". The most common attempts are Jehovah and Yahweh, with the lesser known Yahveh and Yahueh.

JEHOVAH

"Jehovah", though it has gained popularity in Christian circles, is not only the least likely, of all attempts, it is also the one translation that not only has no scriptural basis, but it also has no historical or grammatical possible potential.

"Jehovah" surfaced in 1520 A.D., by a translator named Galatinus, without any evidential justification. In fact, it came about as a result of a misunderstanding of Hebrew. He mistakenly used the Latin "J" for the Hebrew "Y", and substituted "v" for what should have been pronounced as "w". The vowel selection appeared to be almost random, to give some sort of understandable utterance to the formation of his word choice. However, his "mistake" has become standard in most English translations, even rendering what was originally pronounced as "Ya'akob", written as "Yacob", into the English version "Jacob"; "Eliyah" as "Elijah"; and "halleluyah" as "hallelujah". The translators mistake is not going to change what has been adopted as standard, but it is important to understand, as much as possible, the meaning of "the name".

YAHWEH

"Yahweh" came from using the vowels of the Hebrew word (Hashem), meaning "the name". The "a" was taken and inserted between the "Y" and "h" of the (Tetra Grammaton), and the "e" of (Hashem) was taken, and inserted between the "w" and "h", to give the modern day pronunciation of "Yahweh". No one knows what the actual vowels were, and speculation is futile, but what we can derive from the meaning that is evident, is significant.

YHWH

Both in historical Rabbinic interpretation, and pictographic origins, (YHWH) is sourced in the Hebrew word transliterated as (havah) or (hawah) [the second "h" is not usually added in transliteration, as it is here, to give clarity, and to visually see the similarities to (YHWH)] containing the letters [HWH]. This verb is a prime root, and is the origin of the verb "to be", in Hebrew, which is used 3,540 times in OT scriptures.

The root itself, is only used 6 times in scripture:

"...BE lord over your brethren..." (Gen.27:29)

"...that you MAY BE their king..." (Neh.6:6)

"...BE on the earth..." (Job 37:6)

"...what HAS [i.e. what EXISTS of all man's labor] man of all his labor..." (Ecc.2:22)

"...where the tree falls, there IT SHALL BE..." (Ecc.11:3)

"...BE a covert to them..." (Is.16:4)

BREATH

The word (hawah) is translated to convey "existence", or "to exist", but the actual meaning is "breath", or "to breathe". In fact, to pronounce this root, in the Hebrew, requires a heavy breath, as in uttering the English rendering "Bach". In other words, both the word, and the utterance of the word, is "breath". Defined by it's root, "Yahweh" speaks of 'the one who has given us "breathe"', or 'has caused our existence'.

Though the word is often described as the official name of the "God" of the Hebrews; more than any other word, this word does not describe the God of the Hebrews, but is rather a general declaration, that the God of the Hebrews, is the God of all existence, or the ONE, who has given breath to all creation. Very emphatically, (Yahweh) speaks of 'the God of creation', 'the author of all life', and therefore, though not a proper translation, by extension, He could be described as "LORD", of all.

Further, the verb from the root (hawah), is used in the famous quote, "I am that I am" (Ex.3:14). Most probable, amid all the cacophony of attempts to give clarity to the phrase, very basically, to paraphrase, God was/is saying, "You can identify me as the creator of all things; the giver of life to all; the very one who gives breath and existence to everyone and everything". In a very general sense, (Yahweh) is, the very breath we breathe.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours